In the north of the Iberian Peninsula flowed the waters of a river that watered the nightmares of the Roman troops. And no, not because of its furious flow, not because of its eddies, not because of its length, not because of its habitual parade of wild animals or terrible warriors. What’s up? If the river known today as the Limia River can awaken the dreams of the legionnaires sent by Rome, it is thanks to its legend.

When they looked into its waters, the soldiers believed they saw nothing but the dark depths of Lethe, one of the rivers of Hades’ underworld.

Somewhere in the north… Limia’s story is one worthy of an epic beginning, on par with Don Quixote or the comic strips of that irreducible Gallic village that Uderzo and Goscinny tell us. It is not a very striking river in itself: it rises in the province of Ourense on Mount Talariño at an altitude of 985 meters and stretches for 108 km until it empties into the Atlantic. Before that, it passes through the south of Galicia and the north of Portugal, passing the towns of Ponte da Barca, Ponte de Limia and Viana do Castelo. If it has entered history and remained linked to the Roman chronicle, this is due to its symbolism rather than its data.

A river worthy of the underworld. It may seem surprising in the 21st century, but in Roman times the Limia was believed to be a unique river worthy of the underworld. And not just anyone. As the Department of Agriculture recalls, a surprising legend was woven about its waters: It was believed to be neither more nor less than Lethe, one of the five rivers that flow through Hades.

There it shared the realm of the dead with other channels equally sinister, such as Phlegethon, a channel of fire; or the Acheron and Cocytus rivers, known for their bitter and lamenting waters. Among them all, Lethe stood out with a terrifying strangeness. It was considered the river of oblivion. Anyone who drank it, no matter how happy they were, lost their memory and suffered complete forgetfulness.

Lethe passes here. Although Roman legionnaires more or less believed in the stories of their own mythology and the magical power of the Limia waters, it can be sensed that the legend was quite common at that time.

This is also reflected in the thesaurus of the Cultural Heritage of Spain, which recalls that Limia was known as Belión or Lethes precisely because of its “confusion with the river Oblivion mentioned in Hades.” This is actually the name given to it by the Greek geographer Strabo. “It was believed to cause those who crossed here to lose their memories, making Roman conflicts in this environment difficult for years to come as the army refused to cross,” the dossier allocated to him by the Ministry of Agriculture said.

Legend with an expiration date. The legend of Limia is surprising not only because of its history and popularity. Equally interesting is that this can be linked to a very specific date that served to intimidate the fears of Roman soldiers. According to tradition, General Decimus Junius Brutus, who went on a conquest expedition north of the peninsula in 138 BC, found his troops refusing to cross the Limia for fear of losing their memories.

To show them that their fears were unfounded, the police officer decided to set an example and leave a painting “similar” to the one that Fraga would present centuries later at Palomares – with all the quotes in the world, of course: water to test the harmlessness of his flesh. So the good general crossed the Limia, standard in hand, until he reached the other shore, and then devoted himself to addressing his soldiers by name. One by one. First, to clarify your orders. Secondly, and no less important, it was to show unequivocally that the waters of the northern river had not erased his memory.

An achievement still remembered. The ironies of history are that this feat, by which Decimus Junius Brutus wanted to show that he had preserved his good memory, has ensured that today, more than 2000 years later, we are the ones who continue to remember him. It’s about him and everything surrounding the legend of Limia. For decades, the “Festa do Esquecemento” (Festival of Forgetting in Galician) has been celebrated every summer in Xinzo de Limia; It is a historical celebration of battles with concerts, parades, a market and re-enactments of river crossings. The shores of Limia.

Things related to water or wine. The truth is that beyond the festival, the legend of the Galician Lethe continues to arouse interest even today, in 2023, and articles continue to be written frequently mentioning the feat of June Brutus or the origin of the legend. Argument recently published a report incorporating the theories of Strabo or Virgil to explain why Limia is associated with Lethe; such as the supposed forgetfulness experienced by the Turdulian people when crossing the waters.

Of course, not all explanations were mythological. The Roman poet even suggests that the explanation may be different, more mundane in nature: the abundance of wine in the region and its – yes – undeniable effect on memory.

Pictures | Álvaro Pérez Vilariño 1 and 2 (Flickr) and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

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*An earlier version of this article was published in October 2023.